


Shanghai

by twtd



Category: The Worst Witch (TV 2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Actors, Alternate Universe - Music, F/F, Musicians
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-16
Updated: 2018-08-16
Packaged: 2019-06-28 08:29:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,786
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15703545
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/twtd/pseuds/twtd
Summary: Pippa is selling out stadiums and Hecate just won her first Academy Award. They meet for the first time at a Hollywood party.***Tattoos rippled under sweat as Pippa walked through the LA heat across the patio to the bar, a glass of champagne appearing before her without a word. Despite its chill, a small sip of the drink did nothing against the suffocating warmth. Pippa casually glanced around the room. No one of note stood out, but as a musician in the middle of an actors' party, there weren't many people there worth networking with. It meant that beyond staying for a polite period of time, she could do as she wished. Right then, she wanted to speak to the beautiful woman seated just a few feet away at the bar. Or at least she wanted to try.





	Shanghai

**Author's Note:**

> This started a prompt fill on tumblr then took on a life of its own.

Tattoos rippled under sweat as Pippa walked through the LA heat across the patio to the bar, a glass of champagne appearing before her without a word. Despite its chill, a small sip of the drink did nothing against the suffocating warmth. Pippa casually glanced around the room. No one of note stood out, but as a musician in the middle of an actors' party, there weren't many people there worth networking with. It meant that beyond staying for a polite period of time, she could do as she wished. Right then, she wanted to speak to the beautiful woman seated just a few feet away at the bar. Or at least she wanted to try.

There were two things everyone knew about Hecate Hardbroom: first, that she was a superb actor, perhaps one of the best in her generation, and second, that outside of a movie studio, she was a bitch. Pippa, however, put very little stock in such gossip. She slid closer. 

"What are you drinking tonight?" Pippa nodded toward the tumbler in Hecate's hand. 

"Macallen. Why? Are you the bartender?" Hecate responded, never looking away from the shelves of liquor in front of her. 

Despite the cool response, Pippa persisted. "Not the bartender, no. Just curious. I, myself, am having a lovely blanc de blanc, but I could easily be persuaded to switch to scotch despite the weather."

"I don't persuade people to drink. And I don't invite people I don't know to drink with me," Hecate said. 

"Pippa," Pippa offered her hand to Hecate. Despite the sour look on her face, Hecate took it. 

"Pentangle. Yes, I know. Your music is... not terrible," Hecate offered. She did not offer her name.

"Why do I get the feeling that's high praise coming from you?" Pippa replied. She swallowed the last third of her glass of champagne and crooked her finger at the bartender. Before she even finished approaching, Pippa made a motion toward Hecate's glass, barely raising her voice to say, "rocks, please," before returning her full attention to Hecate. 

"Make of it what you will." Hecate finally gave Pippa something more than perfunctory attention, her eyes catching Pippa's. 

"Then I'll take the compliment," Pippa said. The bartender, clearly an ally, came back with two fresh glasses, one over ice and the other neat, and placed them in front of Pippa and Hecate. "The last movie you were in, where you were the teacher, it wasn't half bad." It had only won Hecate her first of what was sure to be several Academy Awards. 

Hecate raised her glass as Pippa's teasing hit home. Pippa was nothing if not confident that her skill as a musician were a match for Hecate's skill as an actor. "You have made your point." Hecate took a sip from her glass of scotch. Pippa mimicked her, a slight cough escaping at the liquor hit the back of her throat. Hecate raised an eyebrow. 

Pippa looked back sheepishly. "I'm not used to it anymore. And when I was used to it, I never drank anything so nice." She had no problem admitting to having a bit of a wild streak when she first came into success, though vodka had been her poison of choice then.

"I suppose the cocaine musicians are known for doing is much more smooth." If Pippa didn't know better, which she supposed she really didn't, she would swear she saw a smirk flick over Hecate's lips. 

"Cocaine is so 1980s." Pippa laughed. "It's all oxycodone now. Though you," Pippa blatantly looked over Hecate from head to toe, "seem like the type to get your opioids from a den in Shanghai." 

"The distance makes it a rare indulgence," Hecate responded and Pippa nearly choked on her drink. Was that a joke? Had anyone ever reported an instance of Hecate Hardbroom joking? Pippa didn't know. Pippa didn't care. She smiled brightly. 

"And expensive," Pippa said. Hecate shrugged as if that wasn't a concern. She finished her scotch, then plucked Pippa's glass from her fingers and finished it as well. 

"I believe this is the point when you invite me back to your home for the next drink," Hecate said. "I, of course, demure. You charmingly insist, and I acquiesce. Do I have how this goes correct or should I check my script?" 

Pippa blinked in shock. Had she been that obvious? "I don't know. It seems like you're the one who just did the inviting," Pippa responded as smoothly as she could. 

"Perhaps I did." Hecate raised an eyebrow as she stood from her barstool. Despite her own heels, Pippa noticed the few inches difference in their height. 

"Well, if you did, I would say I would love to have that drink with you someplace more private, and if my home happens to be convenient, I do have a lovely bottle of rosé I can open."

"My driver is waiting," Hecate said, her voice taking on a huskier tone, her accent thickening. She motioned for Pippa to precede her, and when Pippa did, she felt a hand brush lightly against the small of her back. Pippa shivered as they wound their way through the crowd, out a side gate, and to Hecate's car. Hecate's driver held the door for both of them. Pippa barely had time to settle herself before Hecate's fingers were under her chin and tilting Pippa's face toward her. Her breath caught in anticipation as their eyes connected. Hecate's lips felt cool against her own as they brushed together. Pippa shivered again. Their lips moved together, tongues slipping out to taste each other and clichéd fireworks crackled behind Pippa's eyes. 

"You're beautiful," Hecate whispered between kisses. Pippa merely sighed as she pulled Hecate down again, pleasure zinging through her nerve endings with each meeting. By the time they pulled into Pippa's driveway, their lips were swollen and Hecate's hair was starting to tumble down. Pippa didn't think she had ever seen something so sexy. 

"Do you still want to come in?" Pippa asked. She needed to be sure. Hecate may have changed her mind. 

"Yes," Hecate responded. She opened the car door and exited before holding out a hand to assist Pippa. 

"Good." Pippa found her keys as they walked toward her door. "Good." They were barely over the threshold with the door closed behind them when Hecate pulled Pippa into her arms again. The sweat on Pippa's skin had cooled and the overpowered air conditioning drew goosebumps along her skin. Or maybe the goosebumps were Hecate's fault, the fault of the fingertips skimming over a back left bare by her halter top. 

"We're skipping the wine, yes?" Pippa asked as she looped her arms around Hecate's neck. 

"We can have the wine later," Hecate responded. She looked over Pippa's shoulder and into the house, silently asking for the direction of the bedroom. Pippa extracted herself from Hecate's arms, grabbed one of her hands, and led her further into the house. 

"Do you often seduce wayward musicians at Hollywood parties?" Pippa asked. "That is what happened here, isn't in?"

"I thought you were the one doing the seducing. We are in your house, after all." Hecate responded. 

"At your insistence." Not that Pippa was in any way unhappy with their current circumstances. In the end, who seduced who wasn't important. As they entered her bedroom, Pippa let go of Hecate's hand and untied the neck of her own halter top, turning toward Hecate as the fabric fell away. She heard Hecate's sharp intake of breath at the now bare skin. Pippa grabbed Hecate's hands again and used them to draw the other woman close. She put Hecate's hands on the bottom tie of her shirt. "Take this the rest of the way off," she purred as she pushed forward against Hecate's front, her skin pricking against the sequins that covered Hecate's dress. 

Hecate easily compiled and then Pippa's top was on the floor. She felt tugging at the zipper of her skirt and suddenly it joined her top, leaving Pippa in little more than a scrap of lace. Hecate's hands found her ass as her lips found Pippa's again. 

"You're even more beautiful like this," Hecate whispered. 

"You've already gotten me to bed, there's no need for flattery." Pippa found the zipper to Hecate's dress and started to pull it down. 

"By my estimation, we are at least three feet from the bed," Hecate said. "And call it what you will, it's true." 

Pippa pushed her hands under the fabric of Hecate's dress and started to peel it off. "Well, that's much too far away." Pippa stepped forward which forced Hecate to step back. Two feet from the bed, then one, then Hecate had no choice but to climb in. As she laid down, Pippa crawled on top of her. Hecate melted into the bed. This wasn't how Pippa had expected her night to end, but she would take it. She leaned down and kissed Hecate once again. She would take it.

***

Hecate groaned as a slash of light moved back and forth across her eyes. Each pass made her head throb and when she tried to move her arm to cover her face, she found it wrapped in sheets that distinctly did not feel like her own. She extracted her limb from it's trap, covered her face, and slowly opened her eyes. She'd had too much scotch followed by too much wine and now she had to pay for it. She stretched into the soreness of her muscles and looked over to where she assumed Pippa would be.

The bed was empty. 

Then she noticed the sound of the shower. God, what had she been thinking? What had possessed her to go home with Pippa Pentangle of all people? She'd be luck to get out of there without the paparazzi noticing and she did not need some sort of lesbian scandal marring a career just starting to gain traction. She'd made up her mind before she'd even finished her first glass of scotch, so she couldn't even blame the alcohol. 

Hecate slipped out of the bed and found her clothing. She needed to leave. She needed to leave now. Hecate dressed as quickly as she could. The shower continued to run. It was still running when Hecate left the bedroom. Finding her way out took no skill. She walked several blocks away before she called her driver. It didn't matter how much she had enjoyed Pippa's company, that Pippa seemed to be one of the few who understood her sense of humor, she needed to forget that the night before had ever happened. She had simply gotten carried away. It wouldn't happen again.

**Author's Note:**

> And then they don't speak for 30 years until they're pushed back together when they have to work on the same project. They reconnect, pine for each other, and eventually fall in love. We'll see if I ever write that story.


End file.
